Finish the medical prescription by photo: what will pharmacies ask for from March 1

It should be noted: from the first day of March, the 13,000 pharmacies in the national territory (or their majority...) will reject the photographed prescriptions, confirmed from the Argentine Pharmaceutical Confederation (COFA) and also from Farmacity, one of the chains with the most presence has in the country.

María Isabel Reinoso

, president of the College of Pharmacists of the Province of Buenos Aires and deputy secretary (until December she had been president) of COFA, spoke of one of the obstacles she sees from the first day of March: “Social works are complicated.

We hope that they guarantee to make electronic prescriptions available

, whether they have an agreement or not”.

Even though the issue is advancing and promises to modify (for the better) the purchase of prescription drugs in a safer and more practical way, a round of consultations with different players in the sector showed that, although there is a consensus on leaving aside the very flimsy photo-recipes, digital prescriptions are a chapter that is coming slowly.

Electronic prescriptions: traceability and modernization

On the one hand, Reinoso said, due to the short circuits that may arise in terms of the

that issue the electronic prescriptions themselves, with respect to the pharmacies' software.

At this point, obvious differences are to be expected, depending on the resources (and the willingness to expand) that the social and prepaid obras manage to fine-tune their computer systems.

The notice that circulated at the end of December and after was suspended until March.

Photo: Andrés Délia

The other major issue is the responsibility of the authorities:

(or control) regarding the digital or electronic signature of health professionals, no less a detail that should appear in all electronic prescriptions, something that could trying

(and they admitted in a prepaid) does not happen in all cases.

Reinoso added something else, just started the interview: "One of the issues that we emphasize in the meetings that we are having with the authorities is the problem of

."

"That is to say, that the electronic prescription modules allow doctors to make duplicate prescriptions (

), for those medicines that have the 'recipe on file' requirement. ", said.

This is the case of some antibiotics and all psychotropic drugs.

In an important prepaid consulted they did not deny it: "Oh, no... if it is with a prescription on file,

, for now."

The electronic prescription, according to the Ministry of Health

It was sanctioned at the end of 2020, but the Electronic Prescription Law

.

The impulse of this regulation was twofold: it sought to advance in a pending matter, but also to correct the inconveniences generated by the photo-recipe patch (logical for the ASPO context, but rudimentary for the purposes of a safe health system), since that many fans

, presenting the photo in more than one pharmacy.

From the Ministry of Health of the Nation they promised to give more details next Monday (hours before the dispensation of remedies by photo-prescription expires), but they transmitted this provisional message:

"We are working on

of digital prescriptions, with broad consensus from all subsectors of the health system and compliance with the progress that we have been showing them."

Returning to the words of a manager of an important prepaid medical entity, for now

, because there is no concrete indication from the Ministry on how to move forward on this issue. 

"All this we did alone, as it seemed to us," the source summarized. 

Digital recipes in Province and CABA

One of the provinces that made the most progress in this area was Buenos Aires, which recently launched its own digital recipe system.

Different points are offered where doctors can register (see

) and, from there, prepare electronic prescriptions, presumably with official control.

As for the City, they shared with this medium that “the Health systems must be well differentiated.

In the City, there has been an electronic medical record and electronic prescription for four years now.

are made by electronic prescription and are withdrawn at the pharmacy”.

Regarding the rest of the effectors, they said that "the national government communicated that it was already

of the National Law of Electronic Prescriptions and, from there, the policies of how to carry it out will be integrated with the private ones."

From the OSDE, Swiss Medical, Medifé and Medicus entities, they assured

that they have their own platforms, and that through them doctors are issuing electronic prescriptions smoothly, with all the legal requirements.

However, as mentioned above, there are cases in which the registered digital signature of the doctor is missing, admitted from one of the entities where they recognized delays in the matter and pointed to a lack of direction from the authorities.

Where will the digital recipes be used?

All the entities consulted confirmed that their digitally issued prescriptions can be used

, regardless of what the booklet says and the discounts.

Also from Farmacity they reassured themselves on this point: they assure that the electronic prescription

as the traditional one on paper.

In other words, if the patient needs to buy a prescription drug (they represent more than 70% of drug sales) but for whatever reason it is necessary to resolve it in a pharmacy that does not give them a discount, they should be able to purchase it with the digital order no problems at list price.

Of course, not all social works are "connected to the pharmacy software," Reinoso clarified.

The issue is advancing, he assured: "I would say that it is at 70% or 80%. By the end of the year it should be going well."

PS

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